Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/12/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  *****************************, the owner, posted a local artist show asking for up to 12 submissions from each artist. The entry fee was $30 and each additional piece submitted was 5. I paid the $30 and I submitted the max ****** of 12 pieces. I was notified that they only accepted one but kept my money, and all other money from every other submission denied. This is a very shady practice. He knows full well he will not accept most submissions but promotes it to take advantage of artists and ******* them out of money. He should be more transparent and say most submissions will not be accepted or say that only three pieces are allowed to be submitted to give a more accurate representation of what he really only intends to accept. On top of that, and in my years of experience, the most any gallery charges commission to an artist for a piece sold is 30%. He charges 50%. I understand its his business and can ask what he wants but this is just to highlight his greed and shrewdness towards artists and the business. After hearing only one of my 12 pieces was accepted, I asked for the refund for the unaccepted pieces. He said he would not refund. I told him that was ***** and said he could keep the $30 entry fee but I wanted the rest of my money back. He replied that he removed me from the showing and still would not refund my money. He now officially stole from me. Im requesting an investigation in these terrible business practices and my money back from this thief.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/22/2023

  R Gallery is a commercial gallery which chooses to focus on supporting and promoting local artists. The call for entry process for galleries and art organization is an application for entry. Application fees are not refundable and that is the same for call for entries. It is widely known in the art community that when you enter your artwork to a call for entry, you are asking the jury to spend time reviewing your work. The time to review cost money and is not refundable if you do not get the outcome you are wanting. ************** was actually accepted in to our exhibit but was upset that only one peice was accepted. He choose to submit 12 pieces which bettered his chances of us wanting one. It was not required to submit the maximum. Some artists submit one, some artists submit multiples to get as many peice infront of our eyes as possible. When I told ************** that the entry fee was non-refundable, he choose to withdraw. We would have gladly shown his work and tried to sell it in the gallery if he had not. It was HIS choice. We accepted 85 peices to that particular exhibit.

  We have built a large community of artists who value the work we do to support and promote them. In our 4 years of doing calls for entries, we have only been asked 2 times for refunds.(************* is one of them). If an artist takes the time to research and visit R Gallery and to learn the industy standard for submitting work, they would see R Gallery is much more artist friendly than most galleries and art organizations.

  As far as the commission percentage we charge, that too is industy standard and fair for commercial galleries with high rent and staffing costs. Non-profit art clubs and organizations will charge less commission but will also charge monthly or yearly dues. Non-profits also rarely have retail storefronts in a prime downtown location. Aside from the call for entry fee, we do not charge the artist anything unless we sell their work.

  We are sorry to hear the ************** did not have the experiece he wanted, but we assure this is not due to any bad or non standard practices on our part.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/23/2023

   
  Complaint: 19925888
  
  I am rejecting this response because: its poor practice and Ive done many art shows, no one has ever charged 50% commission. 
  Its a scam. Taking all this money from artists just to look at them? Its shady. 
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************